Transcending Modernity with Relational Thinking This book explores the ways in which social relations are profoundly chang- ing modern society, arguing that, constituting a reality of their own, social relations will ultimately lead to a new form of society: an aftermodern or relational society. Drawing on the thought of Simmel, it extends the idea that society consists essentially of social relations, in order to make sense of the operation of dichotomous forces in society and to examine the emer- gence of a “third” in the morphogenetic processes. Through a realist and critical relational sociology, which allows for the fact that human beings are both internal and external to social relations, and therefore to society, the author shows how we are moving towards a new, trans-modern soci- ety – one that calls into question the guiding ideas of Western modernity, such as the notion of linear progression, that science and technology are the decisive factors of human development, and that culture can entirely sup- plant nature. As such, it will appeal to sociologists, social theorists, econo- mists, political scientists, and social philosophers with interests in relational thought, critical realism, and social transformation. Pierpaolo Donati is Alma Mater Professor (PAM) of Sociology at the Uni- versity of Bologna, Italy. Former President of the Italian Sociological Asso- ciation, he is the author of Relational Sociology: A New Paradigm for the Social Sciences, co-author of The Relational Subject, and co-editor of Social Science, Philosophy and Theology in Dialogue. Routledge Advances in Sociology 303 COVID-19 Volume I: Global Pandemic, Societal Responses, Ideological Solutions Edited by J. Michael Ryan 304 COVID-19 Volume II: Social Consequences and Cultural Adaptations Edited by J. Michael Ryan 305 Prevent Strategy Helping the Vulnerable Being Drawn Towards Terrorism or Another Layer of State Surveillance? Edited by David Lowe and Robin Bennett 306 Regime Change in Turkey Neoliberal Authoritarianism, Islamism and Hegemony Edited by Errol Babacan, Melehat Kutun, Ezgi Pınar and Zafer Yılmaz 307 The Politics of Europeanisation Work and Family Life Reconciliation Policy Nazli Kazanoglu 308 Internet Dating Intimacy and Social Change Chris Beasley and Mary Holmes 309 Transcending Modernity with Relational Thinking Pierpaolo Donati 310 Exploring Welfare Bricolage in Europe’s Superdiverse Neighbourhoods Jenny Phillimore, Hannah Bradby, Tilman Brand, Beatriz Padilla and Simon Pemberton For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge. com/Routledge-Advances-in-Sociology/book-series/SE0511 Transcending Modernity with Relational Thinking Pierpaolo Donati First published 2021 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 Pierpaolo Donati The right of Pierpaolo Donati to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis. com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution- Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Donati, Pierpaolo, 1946-author. Title: Transcending modernity with relational thinking/Pierpaolo Donati. Description: 1 Edition. | New York : Routledge, 2021. | Series: Routledge advances in sociology | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020051476 (print) | LCCN 2020051477 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367705121 (hardback) | ISBN 9781003146698 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Social interaction. | Postmodernism–Social aspects. | Globalization–Social aspects. | Technology and civilization. Classification: LCC HM1111 .D668 2021 (print) | LCC HM1111 (ebook) | DDC 302–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020051476 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020051477 ISBN: 9780367705121 (hbk) ISBN: 9780367705138 (pbk) ISBN: 9781003146698 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003146698 Typeset in Times New Roman by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. To those who strive to see the social relations that, like invisible threads, orient human life Contents List of figures ix List of tables x Introduction: Towards a relational society 1 PART I The emergence of aftermodernity 13 1 Beyond the modern dilemma freedom (lib) vs control (lab): What after? 15 2 Overcoming the market/state binary code 35 3 Shedding light on society through a relational (not relationist) gaze 51 PART II Insights into the morphogenetic changes of social morality 69 4 Relational society as a morphogenetic configuration 71 5 The morphogenesis of social morality 111 6 Morality and social networks 130 PART III Why and how can the new society be “good”? 147 7 What does the good life consist of? 149 8 The emergence of new social subjects generating relational goods 167 viii Contents PART IV The hybridisation of society: shall we forget about its human character? 191 9 The new scenario of a hybridised society 193 10 Prospects: Should we abandon the dream of a human(e) society? 211 References 231 Name Index 242 Subject Index 245 List of figures 1.1 The relational hyperbola of late modernity 30 1.2 The hyperbolic relational nature of aftermodern society at its beginning 31 2.1 The economic logic of a lib/lab society 37 2.2 The economic logic of a relational society 39 2.3 Aftermodern society as a societal network intertwining system and social integration 43 3.1 Different orders of social relationality: processual (interactional/transactional) and structural 56 4.1 The basic general scheme of the morphostatic/morphogenetic process by which social relations are reproduced or changed 76 4.2 The model of the social relation as a “molecule of the social” and its environments 84 4.3 The structure of the social relation (social molecule) typical of modernity 86 4.4 The transition from modernity to aftermodernity 88 4.5 The molecular structure of the social relation typical of an aftermodern society 89 4.6 The different meanings of the value added by the relation to something/someone (analytical dimensions of a relational complex) 99 4.7 The generation of relational goods through social capital (and vice versa) 105 5.1 How system morality and agential morality are mediated by the morality of social networks 115 6.1 The interplay between individual and relational ethics 140 8.1 The morphogenesis of the subject’s relational identity (along the time steps T1–T7) 187 9.1 A scheme of the process of hybridisation (structural, agential, and cultural) 196 List of tables 8.1 Three ways of defining identity 176 9.1 Four types of relations generating hybrids when mixed together 199 10.1 A comparison between substantialist, relationist, and relational approaches 222 Introduction Towards a relational society Introduction text “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes” (Marcel Proust) Premise After many years of theoretical work and empirical research on social rela- tions, and on the paradigm of relational sociology, I think the time has come to outline the vision of society to which these reflections and field research lead. As far as I can see, from the 1980s, from year to year, the relational per- spective on society has proven to be increasingly topical. The reasons for this growing relevance are many. I could mention the processes of globalisation, the advent of new technologies (information and communication technol- ogies [ICT], artificial intelligence [AI], robotics), the dematerialisation of society, the diffusion of scientific theories based on the principles of relativ- ity, indeterminacy, the progress in quantum physics, genomics, and many other sciences, not to mention the Covid-19 pandemic which showed the importance of social relations in spreading the virus as well as in avoiding it. Overall, all these factors have accelerated the process of creating a new “relational environment.” The various economic crises of the first decades of the 21st century and then the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 did the rest, making the social relationship the protagonist of social and cultural change, for better or for worse. This book is an attempt to show how the reality of social relations is profoundly changing modern society and will lead it to be another society, no longer modern as we have known it in the past. Of course, the book is not against modernity, which has brought so many benefits to humanity. Nor is it a question of taking sides for a conservative or progressive position. It is simply a matter of understanding that we are going beyond moder- nity. It is the exit from one world to go to another world. This exit is as problematic as any creation of a new societal formation. 2 Introduction What is modernity? Modern society has been defined in a thousand ways. Sociology has been particularly rich in contributions. Obviously, it is impossible to mention even a few of the main texts. I limit myself in recalling some representations with respect to which I intend to highlight the novelty of the idea of a rela- tional society. I think